Thursday, January 21, 2016

What I Like to Do the Most

It is interesting I oftentimes get asked what procedure in dentistry I like doing the most.  That question reminds me of an old friend and college of mine, Gordon Christensen who practices in Provo, Utah.  He lectures internationally and is very well know among the dental community.  I was at a symposium he was giving several years ago and he was talking about dentists versus physicians.  The average physician/surgeon does approximately 12 different procedures.  And if you think about it for a moment, he is right!  There are no more Orthopedic surgeons anymore.  There are knee doctors, hip doctors and elbow doctors but no people that do all the different orthopedic procedure.  on the other hand, your local primary care physician at Kaiser does not really do a lot of different procedures at all.  Primarily, he or she probably prescribes medication for you if you need it and refers you to a specialist if a specific procedure needs to be done.  That is because in the physician world 95% of the physicians are specialists.  On the other hand, in dentistry, 95% of dentists are in family practice like myself.  The average family practitioner in dentistry does approximately 144 different procedures.  So the question is a reasonable one.  What is the procedure I like doing the most?  I have given it a lot of consideration over the years and actually the better question is what procedure do I like doing the least?  As I thoroughly enjoy all 144 different procedures that I do.  The answer to that question of what I like doing the least the answer is obvious, working on people when they are not numb!

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